Irish company tops Nokia Mobile Challenge Contest

Dublin, Ireland, April 2002: Irish company Cibenix have been chosen as winners in the Nokia Mobile Challenge contest.

The Nokia Mobile Challenge awards developers of the most exciting and useful Symbian and MIDP Java™ (J2ME) applications. Awards have been given for the best applications in communications, entertainment and enhanced productivity. The judging panel, which included both technical experts and business development professionals from Nokia, selected those applications that showed the best combination of quality and usability. Both Professional and Student Series’ prizes were awarded. The contest attracted more than 700 participants from around the world.

Cibenix’s Symbian award-winning application ‘Active Desk’ improves the usability of the Nokia 9200 Communicator Series devices through features such as message scheduler and advanced application management. The Active Desk application allows users to optimise their Communicator desk view, create a schedule for sending and receiving e-mail automatically at certain times of the day, and launch many applications simultaneously when turning on their Communicator.

The application Active Desk is available in seven languages and is the number 1 bestseller at both Handango and the Nokia Software Market, making it the most popular application available for the Nokia 9200 Communicator. Active Desk has also received very favourable reviews from Symbian OS Devices portal, www.allabouter6.com, www.my-communicator.com and German PDA portal, www.mobile2day.de. Cibenix are about to release their follow-up product Active Mail, and are currently working on a version of Active Desk for Nokia’s new imaging handset, the Nokia 7650, due for release in the 2nd quarter of 2002.

“We are delighted that an Irish company has received such recognition from what is a world-wide Development Community. It serves to demonstrate the huge opportunities that are available to local developers through our Software Market, Tradepoint and Club Nokia channels,” said Gavin Barrett, Business Development Manager, Nokia (Ireland) Limited, Mobile Phone Division, “Cibenix have shown that success can be achieved by any company, regardless of size, who have the vision and drive to create marketable applications and services. As we all know, it is these applications and services that will drive future revenue growth in the mobile communications industry.”

"This award marks the great achievements that Cibenix has accomplished in a relatively short space of time,” said Garry McCollum, Managing Director, Cibenix. “The recognition and promotion that comes with this award from Nokia has presented great opportunities for Cibenix. While we will continue to provide products targeted towards consumers, our immediate goal is to produce solutions for the corporate marketplace. It is this award, and the associations that accompany it, that will allow us to foster relationships with the industry leaders such as Nokia and Symbian. It is these relationships which will help take Cibenix to the next level of success and beyond."

For further information please contact Lisa McDonald, Slattery PR on 01 6614055, 087 9581554 or lmcdonald@slatterypr.ie

About Cibenix:

Cibenix Limited is a privately held Irish software company, delivering solutions for the mobile computing and communications industry. The company is focused on providing business and consumer solutions for the Nokia Smartphone product range and other Symbian based smartphones. Cibenix is based in Dublin, Ireland and was founded in 2001. The company has already produced a number one bestselling application in its flagship product, Active Desk.

About Nokia:

Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.

About Symbian:

Symbian is a software licensing company, owned by wireless industry leaders, that is the trusted supplier of the advanced, open, standard operating system - Symbian OS - for data-enabled mobile phones. Symbian was established as a private independent company in June 1998 and is owned by Ericsson, Nokia, Matsushita (Panasonic), Motorola, Psion and Sony Ericsson. Headquartered in the UK, it has offices in Japan, Sweden, UK and the USA. Symbian has close to two decades of experience developing software technology for mobile computing devices and mobile phones. Symbian's role as a driving force for the wireless industry is internationally recognized. This is reflected by key partnerships with leading-edge technology companies worldwide. The world's first open Symbian OS phone became available in the first half of 2001: the Nokia 9210 Communicator.